ronburgundy
Contributor
I am curious how many people here personally know someone whose been diagnosed with the disease, limiting it only to people you had actually previously met and interacted with (not just a friend of a friend you were told about).
One thing about this virus is that it's all about the potential for it's growth and lethality (I'm saying that's a word).
Yet, given the absurdly incompetent lack of testing, even for people with clear symptoms, only about 1 in 5000 Americans have been diagnosed with it, which is likely a small fraction of those who have it. If we estimate that most people know about 50 people who they would hear about if they got it, that means that only about 1 in a hundred people actually personally know someone who they know has it. That makes the virus seem like an abstraction.
I know only 1 person and although I met him once and saw him maybe 5 times at a bar, he's a minimal acquaintance whose name I'd never recognize, and although not relevant, I thought he was a bit of a dick. But he circulated his story on social media in a way that I think is quite positive to get people to take it more seriously and "put a face" on the abstract data for those who know him. I think it would be good for all infected people to do that, to both humanize the suffers and make it more real for those still dismissing how serious it is. He's only 40 and generally healthy, caught it from a doctor's office, couldn't get tested despite clear symptoms then finally had to go the emergency room due to a 104 fever. He should recover okay but had to be hospitalized. That helps dispense with the myth that this is solely a concern for the old or immune compromised.
One thing about this virus is that it's all about the potential for it's growth and lethality (I'm saying that's a word).
Yet, given the absurdly incompetent lack of testing, even for people with clear symptoms, only about 1 in 5000 Americans have been diagnosed with it, which is likely a small fraction of those who have it. If we estimate that most people know about 50 people who they would hear about if they got it, that means that only about 1 in a hundred people actually personally know someone who they know has it. That makes the virus seem like an abstraction.
I know only 1 person and although I met him once and saw him maybe 5 times at a bar, he's a minimal acquaintance whose name I'd never recognize, and although not relevant, I thought he was a bit of a dick. But he circulated his story on social media in a way that I think is quite positive to get people to take it more seriously and "put a face" on the abstract data for those who know him. I think it would be good for all infected people to do that, to both humanize the suffers and make it more real for those still dismissing how serious it is. He's only 40 and generally healthy, caught it from a doctor's office, couldn't get tested despite clear symptoms then finally had to go the emergency room due to a 104 fever. He should recover okay but had to be hospitalized. That helps dispense with the myth that this is solely a concern for the old or immune compromised.